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A flashback: How Hyderabad became part of India

After the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh on July 30, 2013, Hyderabad got a new status as the capital of two states-- Andhra Pradesh and Telangana-- for 10 years. That is the future of India's one of the revered cities, but what precedes Hyderabad's glory is its history.

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Roll back to the Nizam era from 1724 to 1948. As famously ruled by the Muslim rulers, Hyderabad would have been a separate country or a part of Pakistan, but the credit of making it a part of India goes to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, then home minister and Deputy PM of India, who led Operation Polo.

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In 1947, at the time of the partition, India had a numerous princely states and the British gave them an option to either merge with India or Pakistan, or stay as independent state.

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Back then, the State of Hyderabad was the most prosperous state in India having its own army, airline, telecommunication system, railway network, postal system, currency and broadcasting service.

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The Nizam, Osman Ali Khan, Asif Jah VII, was not prepared for Hyderabad's accession by Indian government. Despite Sardar Patel's request, he declared Hyderabad as an independent state on India's Independence Day on August 15, 1947.

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Unable to accept the idea of an independent Hyderabad in India, Sardar Patel sought the advise of the governor general of India, Lord Mountbatten. As the British were afraid of Muslim retaliation, Lord Mountbatten advised him against using force.

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Understanding India's concerns, Lord Mountbatten asked the Nizam not to accede to Pakistan.

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Although Hyderabad had a Muslim ruling, its Hindu population (85 pc as per the 1941 census) outnumbered Muslims. Yet, the Nizam didn't want to be part of India.

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An unhappy Sardar Patel described the idea of an independent Hyderabad as "an ulcer in the heart of India - which had to be removed surgically." Despite Lord Mountbatten's warning against the use of force, the Nizam's adamant stand prompted India to use military action.

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Though stubborn, the Nizam knew his weaknesses. His army comprised 24,000 men, of whom only 6,000 were trained. On 24 August 1948, he sought the UN intervention. But that was seen as foolish as it was certain to provoke India to initiate army action.

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The Nizam was supported by the Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen and the Razakars, a private militia organized by Qasim Razvi. They went on the rampage unleashing violence. India couldn't tolerate and it launched Operation Polo on September 13, 1948 at 4 am.

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What also preceded Operation Polo was the information that Hyderabad was planning to ally with Pakistan in future wars against India.

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Indian troops invaded Hyderabad from all points. Left with no option, the Nizam surrendered on September 17 at 5 pm. That was the end of the Nizan rule and Hyderabad became a state of India.

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Though Hindus welcomed it, the Muslims termed it an unlawful invasion. Some Muslims migrated to Pakistan. Today, Karachi has a sizeable Hyderabadi muhajir population. The Muslims, who migrated to Pakistan, have left behind huge properties which are now under the control of Indian government.

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Now, with formation of Telangana, Hyderabad with over seven million population has added another new chapter to its history as being the capital of two states.

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Comments

9

by Hyder Jaffer (not verified) on Fri, 2013-08-16 13:20

Although the fact that the Nizam's made great infrastructural developments for those times and are still in use today cannot be disputed. However, the Nizam's political agenda was certainly a long term threat to India and was rightly set right by Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel. Alteast I owe my gratitude to Sardar VB Patel.
" a stitch in time saves nine"

Mr Jaffer, There has been a great deal of glorification regarding the infrastructure by Nizam, I believe this glorification masks the socio-economic backwardness of the hyderabad state (which is much bigger than the city of hyderabad) and repercussions are here to see for generations. Why was/is the region so backward when the ruler was the richest in the world? If building some infrastructure is how you measure, then we should've been better off with british who built infra in other metros, atleast they didn't pretend to be Indian.
I agree with you on the good riddance part though.

Nizam state was richest princely state in world.At the time of merger with India nizam was having money more than indian gov & pakistan gov.All the wealth etc is grabbed by indian gov.In return what Indian gov has given to Hderabadis is unemploment,poverty & police harrasmant etc.O god please return our good days - Amin

Sadly SARDAR'S achivement is being thrown away by our leaders who are shamelessly co habiting with same MAJALIS which had opposed Hyderabad's merger with rest of India. Because of their short sighted politics Majlis has been increasing its hold not only in city but also in the rest of telangana .Let all secular parties join hands for a united fight in 2014 for the SECOND LIBERATION OF HYDERABAD.

Although Kashmir has 90% Muslim population India with British decided not to let it merge with Pakistan as per the agreement for partition. Main reason for continuous enmity for past 66 years and many millions of people misery on a daily basis.

Fall of Hyderabad 17th September a black day in human history
17th September is a black day in the Human history. In the year 1948, this was the day when the Indian Union attacked and occupied the Hyderabad State through Military action which is called as ‘Police Action’ and originally it was named as “Operation Polo”. Lakhs of Muslims were killed in this military attack, women were dishonored. The cities, towns and villages were completely destroyed. Lakhs of Muslims were made homeless. Masjids and Dargahs were dismantled.
Until 17th September 1948, Hyderabad was an independent country popularly named as princely state with Nizam VII, Mir Osman Ali Khan as its ruler. Hyderabad was never under the British rule. Hyderabad was as large as the present country France. It had its own currency, railways, postal department, Judiciary, military etc. In fact, there were 544 princely states then spread all over the area which is presently known as India. Hyderabad was one among them. All these princely states were occupied and merged by the Indian Union after it got independence from the Britishers. But as Hyderabad was one of the largest princely states, the Indian government that was formed after the Britishers left, it wanted Hyderabad to merge into Indian union, because Hyderabad State was in between the North and South regions, therefore, if Indian Union wanted to rule over the Southern region then it was not possible so they wanted to occupy the Hyderabad state, so that they can include the whole North and South regions and rule over it. However, the VII Nizam did not agree to the proposal of Indian government and wanted some time to think about it as the Britishers had given him three choices, one is to merge into Indian Union, two is to remain independent and the third is to merge into newly formed Pakistan.
Let us examine ‘Liberation’ in what sense and from whom? In the year 1948, on the pretext of suppressing communist movement that was spread only in four districts of Hyderabad State, the Indian union attacked the Hyderabad state to overthrow the Nizam rule which was considered as Muslim rule. Though the police action was to occupy Hyderabad state but actually in the name of police action, Muslims were killed in large numbers. It was estimated officially by the Sundarlal Committee appointed by the government of India that One Lakh Muslims were killed by the Indian army and unofficial estimation is more than two lakh Muslims were killed. The Arya Samaj and other Hindu fundamentalist organizations along with Indian military were involved in the killing of Muslims. 17th September is not the liberation day but day of genocide, the implications of which can be felt even today.
The Nizam of Hyderabad State never even thought of this type of massacre, because he always considered Hindus and Muslims as his two eyes. The way the people of Hyderabad were targeted due to the Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Osman Ali Khan’s innocence and lack of future understanding, he underwent shock due to that. All his dreams went scattered, his tongue went soar, because this richest man of the world would never have dreamt that his home would be destroyed so brutally in front of his eyes and he was unable to do anything.
The Indian Union’s aim was not just to exterminate the Nizam’s government, but also to erase the culture, language, history and literature of Hyderabad. So, the Nizam’s government was eliminated by one attack, but the culture, language, history and literature that has strong roots, could not be erased even after the military action of 17th September. But it has been continuously under attack. The recent uprising Telangana movement is born/emerged from the remaining of culture, heritage and language of Hyderabad, which is called Hyderabadi tahzeeb. Because of this we have given the slogan Hyderabad is Telangana and Telangana is Hyderabad.
It is time now to think as to who is benefiting by giving the slogans of ‘Liberation Day’ and who wants the state government to declare this day officially as liberation day. In the year 1948, as the Congress gave the reasons of suppressing the communist movement and occupied the Hyderabad state to overthrow the Nizam’s rule, in the present times, BJP is using the same strategy and supporting the Telangana movement and propagating that the Muslim rule will come back. One should also think as to why the BJP and TRS have been celebrating this particular day? These two parties are working on same ideological line and majoritarian ideology of these parties will make the people to stand against Muslims. The BJP is making communal statements and instigating common people against Muslims and bringing differences among the communities. So, the SCs, STs and BCs are thinking on the lines of BJP. On the one hand TRS praises Nizam for providing infrastructure and on the other hand it is depicting him as enemy of the people. This dual stand will benefit them both in getting more votes in forthcoming elections. More than this both the parties want to hide the real history of Hyderabad. History is not a monolithic one, it must be read in multiple ways and bring out the facts to construct the understanding.
This day has been celebrated by the BJP and Congress as liberation day. TDP celebrated it as a merger day and the TRS and left parties have celebrated it as betrayal day and the Muslim, SC, ST, and Bahujan organizations have named it as Invasion day. So, there is no clear understanding among the political parties as to what they should call the day 17th September as.
We can understand with the opinion of various political parties that they are not sincere towards the separate Telangana movement and are playing vote bank politics to increase their political employment.
We Telanganites are still under the suppression of the Seemandhras, so we haven’t got the liberation and freedom yet. Though India has got independence in the year 1947, Hyderabad was already independent. But after the merger, the Andhra occupied the Telangana region, diverted all the natural resources to their region and now they have occupied the Waqf lands and are ruling over us. Therefore, people of Telangana are still under the suppression of the Seemandhras. Therefore, in real sense we haven’t got freedom yet. Unless and until Telangana is formed as a separate state, we cannot say that we are free and liberated.
There was no Telangana movement at the time when the Indian Union attacked the Hyderabad State. There was only communist movement that too spread over a small part of the Hyderabad state, say in four districts. Therefore, 17th September cannot be considered as Liberation day as it had no connection with Telangana freedom. It is a black day in human history as lakhs of Muslims were massacred. Telangana people who know about the history of Hyderabad very clearly also know that 17th September is neither a liberation day, nor betrayal day but in fact it is a black day in human history.